OBJECTIVE Develop a computer simulation model that uses daily meteorological data and farm management practices to predict populations of Trichostrongylus colubriformis, Haemonchus contortus and Teladorsagia (Ostertagia) circumcincta and the evolution of anthelmintic resistance within a sheep flock. Use the model to explore if increased refugia, provided by leaving some adult sheep untreated, w...

The satellite I DNAs of domestic goat (Capra hircus) and domestic sheep (Ovis aries) have been studied using molecular hybridisation and restriction enzyme analysis. Both satellite DNAs are composed of repeat units of 820 base pairs in length, but their restriction maps, although similar, differ in certain respects. Thus the majority of sheep satellite I repeat units have two EcoRI sites and on...

The role of interferon in the pathogenesis of encephalomyocarditis (EMC) virus infection was determined by treating mice with potent, partially purified sheep anti-mouse interferon globulin. In control mice, EMC virus was present in low titers in various visceral organs but attained high titers in the brain towards the 4th to 5th day, at which time mice died with signs of central nervous system...

Exon 2 sequences of an expressed MHC-DRB locus from sheep were examined for polymorphisms in both the antigen-binding regions and the adjacent intronic mixed simple tandem repeat. Twenty-one novel exon 2 Ovar-DRB alleles were identified. Short nucleotide motifs are extensively shared between certain exon 2 regions of Ovar-DRB alleles. The simple repeat variations, the number of different amino ...

An understanding of the determinants of trait variation and the selective forces acting on it in natural populations would give insights into the process of evolution. The combination of long-term studies of individuals living in the wild and better genomic resources for nonmodel organisms makes achieving this goal feasible. This article reports the development of a complete linkage map in a pe...

Southern hybridisation was used to define an apparent gene duplication event at the ovine DQA2 locus. Approximately 500 sheep from five different breeds were genotyped at their DQA1 and DQA2 loci. A subset of these were selected for further characterisation. Southern hybridisation of TaqI digested DNA revealed no DQA1 region in some sheep. It was also noted in these DQA1 null animals the DQA2 s...

Electric Sheep is a collective intelligence composed of 40,000 computers and people mediated by a genetic algorithm. It is made with an open-source screensaver that harnesses idle computers into a render farm with the purpose of animating and evolving artificial life-forms known as sheep. The votes of the users form the basis for a fitness function for exploring a space of abstract animations. ...